Although international finance and banking has been the subject of much research and writing, the economic impact of banks on industrial structures and the relations between banking and industry in the twentieth century have remained a relatively unexplored area. This volume examines and interprets the economic effect of the financing of industry by banks and of the banks' credit intermediation in industrialised economies. Particular attention is given to the interplay of economics and politics, to the connections between bankers and industrialists, and to the significance of interlocking directorships. A special section is devoted to a hitherto wholly neglected problem in economic history: the vital influence of universal banking in small but highly industrialised countries in central Europe and Scandinavia.
Reviews
"...a book made in heaven for monetary economists of the comparative-historical-institutional-interdisciplinary persuasion...a wide-ranging collection of essays--every one of them rich in institutional and historical detail...the reader comes away with a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between the macroeconomic crises of the 1920s and 1930s and the political-economic factors behind the widespread restructuring of domestic financial systems in the 1930s." Jane Knodell, Journal of Economic Issues "...highly informative...This is a most useful collection and will prove a fruitful starting point for further comparative study." Theo Balderston, Business History Review "...valuable if not absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the interwar economy." Rondo Cameron, Journal of Comparative Economics
